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Worth the Wait
You may have heard that little picture by the name of ‘No Time to Die’ is hitting theatres in two weeks. The new James Bond has been marred by COVID-induced delays and our anticipation has been equally feverish. Frustrating as the wait is, it’s good to know that Eon Productions et al are taking the…
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Benromach — A Dormant Dram Awakens On Speyside
In the north of Scotland, in an ancient town that strikes across the Moray coast, something has been lying dormant for the past 40 years. This isn’t the opening line to some Highland fable but it may as well be. The town in question – Forres – has been the scene of many mysterious events…
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Olmeca Altos Tequila
Accessing the world of tequila (or any spirit, for that matter) can be a bewildering affair. There are often many factors to consider, few of them obvious, and any tequila worth its salt would balk at the branding of an ‘entry spirit’. Olmeca Altos provide a tequila that has all quality and credentials one would…
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Remy Martin presents — Team Up For Excellence
What is the link between the land of cognac, jazz, blues and hip-hop? This is the question posited to us by multi-Grammy Award winning dance floor behemoth Usher in the opening to Rémy Martin’s ‘Team Up For Excellence’ short. There is an indomitable zest for life shared by the respective proponents of cognac and music.…
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Redbreast — One for the Birds
The tradition of keeping the bottle is a marvellous exercise. Any act of converting the disposable into a trinket or keepsake has to be considered worthy. If cracking open a bottle of something special is a way of marking an occasion – the birth of a child, the union of marriage, a graduation – then…
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Gifts of Note — Maison Perrier-Jouët
There is an ever-burgeoning push towards greener attitudes in regards to our production, consumption and our appreciation for nature itself. Ostensibly the latter isn’t as consequential as the former two; after all, what is aesthetic compared to annihilation? Well, in this case, the two sentiments are inexorably linked. MAISON PERRIER-JOUËT has a storied history of highlighting…
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Oxley | GIN–GIN
Gin is a fickle spirit. The naturally tart flavour profile makes it something of an acquired taste. Its placement in popular culture – a characteristic that has a larger effect on desirability than you’d think – is also incredibly mercurial. Are you Bond when you order a gin, brooding with enigmatic elegance and rolling a…
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Hail Mary
Our relationship with alcohol can be… complicated. We drink to toast a celebration; we drink to commiserate a loss; we drink to the past, present and future; we drink to forget and we drink to regret. Sometimes we just drink – for no other reason besides the fact that it’s there, omnipotent, and the done…
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Dictador + Royal Tokaji – A Tale of Two Masters
With extra special expressions of a spirit, the focus will often be on the mastermind behind it; or, in the case of premium rums, simply, the master. Flourishes within the alchemical process – those that are unquantifiable and ultimately impossible to replicate – are down to the man or woman in charge. They call it…
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Tributo 2020 by Havana Club
Havana Club has pulled back the curtain on their latest iteration of their Tributo collection. First launched back in 2016 by Maestro del Ron Cubano Asbel Morales, this ultra-prestige series of Havana Club rum seeks to embody specific tenets of traditional Cuban rum-making. Each annual edition focuses on a different element of the process and the…
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Glenlivet — The Visible Spectra
The first things one seeks out in their whisky – before even liberating its cork – are its age, established flavour profiles, and the manner with which it was casked. We use these hallmarks to close in on what we know we like, or what we think we might like, according to past tastings. As…
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Redbreast 27 — When Ruby Port met Irish Whiskey
In a world that can be turned on its head in a matter of weeks the feeling of permanence is currently a seemingly distant emotion. It was barely a month ago that I was headed to Dublin to witness the launch of a new permanent addition to the Redbreast family of Single Pot Still whiskeys,…
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Florentine Kitchen Knives
It’s no coincidence that Florentine Kitchen Knives are able to invoke an almost borderless aesthetic that somehow exemplifies very specific cultures across the globe. Florentine Kitchen Knives is the brainchild Tomer Botner – an industrial designer who spent 10 years in the restaurant industry ruminating on how he could apply his very practical mastery of…